Attica Central School District

WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: Don’t look now, Blue Devils, but there’s only 8 days to go until Winter Recess. Today, we bring you to Attica Tops, where National Honor Society chapter members Olivia Bernacki, Ellie Gominiak, Mia Mondano and Alanna Pellicane took a turn ringing the bell for the Salvation Army’s annual Red Kettle Campaign last week. Inspired, no doubt, by the words of Buddy the Elf - “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear,” - Alanna and Mia decided to turn their bell-ringing session up a notch by bringing along a karaoke machine. Judging by the special guest who stopped by, we’d say Buddy’s advice is spot on! Check out some footage from their bell-ringing session at the link below. (Photos and footage courtesy of Becki Peters and Alanna Pellicane) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXdIX-UJH08

Our Future Farmers of America chapter has a new website! Here, you’ll be able to find the chapter’s monthly newsletter, information on upcoming events, bios of our chapter officers and learn more about the history of our FFA chapter. Check it out at the link below. Link: https://sites.google.com/atticacsd.org/atticaffa?usp=sharing

WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: OK. It’s getting serious now, Blue Devils. Only 9 days to go. Today, we bring you news of an act of service by middle school members of our Future Farmers of America chapter, who traveled to Warsaw Saturday to help out at the annual Shop with a Cop event at Walmart! About 90 kids from across Wyoming County participated in this year’s event, which is organized by Chief Peter Hoffmeister and the Warsaw Police Department. Each kid was given a $70 Walmart gift card and assigned a police officer, who helped them shop. Our FFA members joined others from Warsaw Central School District’s FFA chapter in running a crafts and snacks station for kids as they awaited their turn to shop with a member of the State Police, Warsaw Police Department or Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office. We love to see our students out doing good work in the community - well done, FFA! (Photos courtesy of Becky Sphar)

How cool is this? Earlier this week, Jill Pierce’s life skills class attended a Christmas Tree Virtual Field Trip with Rocking Horse Farm. During this trip, Pierce’s students toured the family-owned tree farm, learned about the lifecycle of Christmas trees, experienced how these trees are harvested and prepared for sale, and experienced how tree farmers can diversify and upcycle products to support their farm. The farm even sent an inquiry box of items found on the farm that the students were able to explore before the trip. “We enjoyed the trip and learned a lot without having to be out in the chilly temperatures!” said Pierce.

Yesterday, Attica Elementary’s third grade classes and Mrs. Gephart’s/Mrs.Williams’ class traced and painted pictures to decorate our third floor hallways for the holidays! Well done, Blue Devils - you’ve got that hallway looking sharp!

WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: 10 days to go, Blue Devils. Today, we welcome freshman Trinnity Wheatle to the countdown to read “The Mitten,” by Jan Brett. This beloved children’s book is an adaptation of a Ukrainian folktale and teaches a valuable lesson about how there’s always more to give. You can watch the video over on our YouTube channel at the link below. Thank you, Trinnity! Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y44dHz45YM

We stopped by Mrs. Diane Gebel’s fourth period social studies class this morning to check out her middle school students’ Ellis Island simulation. As part of the simulation, Gebel previously assigned each student a character of a would-be immigrant. Students then researched why their assigned immigrant would decide to leave their home country in the first place, then prepared travel documents before being processed. Before they could successfully immigrate to the U.S., students’ assigned characters were subject to medical screenings and legal background checks at the hands of sometimes hostile and sometimes corrupt immigration officers. If a student’s assigned character was displaying symptoms of illness, was too old or weak to work, had a history of criminal activity in their home country or had an occupation that wasn’t highly valued, that student’s character faced deportation and the possibility of having to begin the immigration process again from the beginning.

Are you a Burger King fan? Of course you are, stop lying. In fact, you’ve probably got that jingle going through your head right now. You know the one - “At Beeeeeeee-Kayyyyyyy, have it your way…” Anyways, we’ve gotten off point. If you like BK (just admit it, already), make sure you stop by our freshman class fundraiser at Attica Burger King, 130 Prospect St., on Thursday, Dec. 21 20 percent of ALL sales made between 4 and 9 p.m. that day will go to our freshman class fund! If ever there was time to order that second Whopper, it’s Dec. 21 from 4 to 9 p.m. - after all, it’s for a good cause!

Our high school counseling office took 43 juniors and seniors on a college tour last month. They started off at Daemen University, then went to Erie Community College’s North Campus before finishing up at the University of Buffalo. “The students got to see first hand the differences between a community college, a private university and a SUNY school,” said Counselor Elise Meyer, who accompanied students on the trip. “They were able to visit classrooms, libraries, computer labs, athletic complexes, dorm rooms and much more. (Photo courtesy of Elise Meyer)

FARM TO SCHOOL: Today was a New York Thursdays day in our cafeterias and you know what that means… A statewide initiative, New York Thursdays highlights New York-grown and produced food items during school meals once per week. It’s intended to maximize the amount of locally produced food students have access to at school while, at the same time, saving the district money in the form of increased state aid reimbursements. Today’s menu included: • Nachos Grande: Ground beef from Burly Brothers Country Butchery (Attica) • Salad: Lettuce and toppings from John Versage’s hydroponic grow system and American Fruit and Vegetable Company (Rochester), • Corn: Merle’s Fresh Produce • Apples: LynOaken Farms (Medina) • Milk: Upstate Farms (Farmer-owned dairy cooperative comprising more than 300 farms - most in Western New York) Yum! (Photo courtesy Kris Wicks)

WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: 11 days left, Blue Devils. We’re practically in single digits, here. Today, we’re asking for your help. Members of our We Care Club are already hard at work on their annual holiday gift drive to benefit children in need in our community. The good news is that there’s still time to donate if you’d like to help support a child or family this year! Take a look at the flier below to see what items are most needed and for drop-off instructions. Contact We Care Club Advisor Matt Struzik with any questions and please consider helping us make a child’s holiday season a little brighter! Phone: (585) 591-0400, ext. 1141 Email: MStruzik@atticacsd.org

FARM TO SCHOOL: Our food service staff created a corn salad for students to sample earlier this month. This corn comes straight from Attica’s own Merle’s Produce, which froze it at its peak ripeness this past summer. Students tried this corn salad on Friday, Dec. 1st and gave it two thumbs up! Want to try it for yourself? Use the recipe linked below! (Photos courtesy of Alicia Spoth) Link: https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/creamy-corn-salad/

WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: T-minus 12 days. We repeat: 12 days left until winter recess. Today, we take you to our Middle School Library where Library Media Specialist Stacey Donahue recently hosted a white elephant book tasting for students. Students took turns unwrapping a book from one of the many Donahue had chosen. Then, students read the summary on the inside cover aloud before deciding whether to keep the book they’d just opened or to steal one previously unwrapped by a classmate. After everyone had a turn, students decided whether they wanted to check out the book they ended up with or one of the others not already claimed by a fellow student. This was a great way to get our students exploring new topics and genres they might not otherwise check out!

WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: 13 days to go, Blue Devils. Today, we bring you the holiday gift of music! We have six concerts coming up this month - the first of which is tonight at 7 p.m. in the District Auditorium. We stopped by Mr. Austin Matson’s 7th/8th grade chorus rehearsal yesterday to see how things are sounding and we’d say you’re in for a treat! Click on the link below for a sneak peak from our 7th/8th grade chorus, which will perform tonight - Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. - along with out 7th/8th grade band! See the schedule below for a full breakdown of our upcoming holiday concerts. All concerts are in our District Auditorium. Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. • 7th/8th Grade Band • 7th/8th Grade Chorus Sunday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. • Sr. High Band • Sr. High Chorus Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. • 5th Grade Band • 6th Grade Band • 5th/6th Grade Chorus Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 1:30 p.m. • Kindergarten Music Program Thursday, Dec. 14 at 1:30 p.m. • 1st Grade Music Program Friday, Dec. 15 at 1:30 p.m. • 2nd Grade Music Program Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc4nOgoQnSY

Total Body Workouts are returning to Attica Elementary School! These classes are FREE and open to ALL staff and community members. Please see the attached form for available sessions. Use the link below to sign up or send an email to Laura O’Donnell at lodonnell@atticacsd.org. Sign up link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOjyfY-IMraeOh2yvstNVw5L_8SeXc17Ksh_a2oV499TlDqA/viewform

WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: Believe it or not, Blue Devils, but you’ve only got 14 school days left to go before you can kick back and relax over Winter Recess. Starting today, we’ll be sharing one post per weekday through the last day of school on Dec. 22. to highlight some of the fun, holiday happenings here at Attica Central Schools. To kick off our countdown, we bring you news of a small act of service from students in Mrs. Jill Piere’s life skills class who took it upon themselves last week to help brighten our Middle School by decorating a Christmas tree in the lobby! As you can see, the tree turned out beautifully and will continue to spread holiday cheer throughout the month. Well done! (Photos courtesy of Jill Pierce)

While you were kicking back over Thanksgiving Recess, our Mighty Marching Blue Devils were doing what they do best - marching, mightily. Our senior high band traveled to Toronto this past Sunday to march in the city’s 119th annual Santa Claus Parade for the 28th time! “It was our first time back since 2019 due to COVID restrictions,” said Band Director Amanda Hofheins. “It was a great day and festive way to kick off the holiday season.” Thanks for having us, Toronto - we had a great time, eh? (Photos courtesy of Amanda Hofheins, Amanda Brown and Kelly Dick)

Good Evening, The Winter sports pictures for all JV and Varsity sports and modified girls basketball and wrestling will be taken on Monday, December 4th after school. Please see your coach for specific times. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving, from our Blue Devils family to yours. We hope your day is full of family, laughter and delicious sides (turkey’s just OK).

The salary for the CSE secretary position is $15 per hour. The start date is Dec. 1. Visit our website at the link below for more information about the positions and to see other employment opportunities at our district. Link: https://www.atticacsd.org/page/open-positions